An Undergraduate Practical for Evaluation of Powdery Battery Materials with a Metallic Cavity Electrode

Selection and development of novel and better materials for batteries are essential for renewable energy storage and zero or low carbon emission. This experimental design aims first to demonstrate a novel copper metal cavity electrode (Cu-MCE) for the convenient and fast investigation of powdery electro-active materials in general and silicon-based negative electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries in particular. The voltammetric features of the Cu-MCE with and without the active materials under different experimental conditions were analyzed and compared in the context of the basic electrochemistry and materials science. It is hoped that this experiment can help students to understand the reaction principle of electroactive materials, analyze independently the charge storage performances, and select the essential materials in technical terms for the development of new energy storage materials and technologies.